Fairy Tale
by Moonphase
Summary: Fairytale A.U.- Nick is a prince who's whole world is turned upside-down when an assasination attempt is made against his life. He is forced to leave home and to run up north. On the way he'll meet many strange people and wesen, make new friends and enemies, and he'll also learn about his destiny and the fate of his late parents. WIP
1. Chapter 1

**A.N.- Important, please read.**

**First of all, this is a work in progress (WIP) so it means that I'm writing this as I go, so sometimes up-dates may be a bit slow. But rest assured I have a full plot and storyline, so this isn't going to be some aimless story that never gets finished, it will.**

**Second, I like Monroe and Nick as a pairing, but I haven't decided if I should do them as a potential couple or as buddies in this. Therefore, I'll let you guys decide. Monroe won't even appear until the third chapter, so let me know what you would like anytime, and I'll go with whatever people want the most.**

**Also I have no beta (not for want of asking) so if anyone reading this is a beta and interested in beta-ing this, please let me know. My weaknesses are grammar and sentence structure.**

**This is my first Grimm fic, I hope it's in character and I hope you enjoy it.**

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"You summoned me, Your Majesty?"

King Renard, the young and daring stand-in for the _true_ king of the land, turned away from staring out his castle window to see a handsome yet dangerous woman dressed in furs and tight leather standing before him.

"My dear Juliet," he said without feeling, "I have a job for you."

"What would you have me hunt?" she asked, her red hair shining like wildfire lighting up the gloomy, dark room they stood in.

"I want you to take the Prince out into the forests. Once concealed from sight, you are to kill him." He spoke bluntly on purpose, watching the red-head carefully for a reaction, but she gave none. Satisfied that his huntress was as remorseless as ever, he continued, "I want you to cut out his heart and to return it to me as evidence of his demise. You shall be paid handsomely for this job."

'_I should hope so,'_ she thought to herself, '_this is an act of treason that he wants me to carry out, after all.'_

However she wisely kept her thoughts to herself and bowed before exiting the King's chamber.

King Renard was a widower, and ruled over the wealthy seaside province of Portland. He had never entertained any hopes of becoming the king after his brother, the old king, had a son called Nick. But, when Nick had only been ten years old Nick's father and mother had both been killed, and Renard, as Nick's uncle, took over reigning the kingdom while Nick's aunt on his mother's side raised the child as her own.

Renard was supposed to give up the throne as soon as Nick was old enough to rule alone. That day was fast approaching, Nick was already a young man who lived away from his aunt, and Renard assumed that though the man had made no play for the kingship, that he would want it back soon.

Things were changing, and Renard recognised that he had the change with them. There was no way that Nick could rule; he was still too young and too wide-eyed and innocent. He wouldn't be able to handle the vicious neighbouring kingdoms who wanted the wealthy sea-side kingdom for their own nefarious reasons. Nick's parents had been much stronger than their son was now, and even they hadn't survived. Really, it was a kindness that Renard would have Nick killed painlessly and quickly than let him rule and fail and surrendering the kingdom to their enemies.

xxXxx

"I don't see why I need a protector," complained Nick, looking over his shoulder at the stalwart Huntress.

"The woods are dangerous my lord," she answered vaguely.

Nick, a handsome young prince of nineteen, pouted slightly. "I'm a grown man," he complained, "and I've been trained in swordplay since I was seven years old. I'm sure I can take a walk in the woods alone. It's ridiculous."

Juliette fixed him with a cold look, "you have no real experience. You've never been in battle and you've never been in a fight. Besides, that pretty little sword on your side is more for show than anything; it would be no god against a hoard of thieves, or a bear, or even a wolf. Trust me, you are safe with me."

Nick smiled slightly before continuing to walk, "you remind me of my aunt."

"I should hope so," Juliette returned his smile, "she was a great warrior. They still sing songs of her in the taverns, and they probably will till the end of time."

"It's not my fault that the Kingdom has been at peace. I might forge a great reputation for myself if war happened, not that I'm wishing for trouble," Nick added quickly, "I don't want war or anything like that."

"You don't speak much like a king."

"Really? Well, no I guess I don't. I'll do my duty of course, and take over whenever my uncle cannot continue, but I'm happy for him to rule for now..."

As Nick had been grumbling on, Juliette checked the surroundings. They were completely covered by the thick oaks of the royal forest and they were far away from the castle and anyone who worked there; no one would hear screams or shouts or the scuffles of a fight.

"Some worry that war will return to our land," she said cryptically, reaching slyly to her hidden dagger. "Some believe that the Royal Houses are plotting against one another; that there are even betrayals within people's own home among their own kinsmen."

Nick stopped walking, "what do you mean?"

"I mean to say that you seem like a good man who may have been a good, if unwilling, king, and so I am sorry," Nick whirled round to see Juliette holding the dagger, "and trust me," she continued, "I am seldom sorry for anything, especially when it's just part of my job."

Before Nick could even pull out his sword, she had fallen upon him, her dagger raised high above his heart. Nick froze when he saw the cold steel blade glint against the light of a white-hot sun. But then, something inside of him screamed at him to move, and with a hidden well of strength he never realised he had, Nick beat Juliette around the head, throwing her off him. Then he climbed on to her, wrestling her the entire time for the dagger. It stayed safely in her iron grip, but he managed to push both her hands down above her head. He knelt over her, his knees either side of her body.

"Maybe there is a bit of your aunt in you," she said with a hint of resentful admiration.

"Why have you done this?" he demanded, all humour gone, "who set you on me?"

"You already know," she sneered, "I made it clear enough. Not to mention that you know very well who my employer is. Your uncle ordered me to kill you. You are a threat to him."

"How am I a threat?" asked Nick genuinely puzzled, "he's been like a father to me. I thought...he cares for me...he's protected me before. What you say makes no sense!"

Nick didn't want to believe her, but he knew she was telling the truth. Juliette had been the Renard's Royal Huntress and most loyal servant as soon as he had first arrived in the castle all those years ago to take over the role of king. Juliette had only been a teenager then, only a few years older than Nick had been, but she was already highly respected. In Nick's mind it made no sense for his uncle to order an assassination attempt on him, but it made even less sense for Juliette to lie about her esteemed employer.

She shrugged the best she could being covered by Nick. "I don't ask my King questions, I just obey him."

"Well not this time." Nick looked at her closely. "I know you people. Your tribe, the Hunters of Beasts, you believe in honour and battle only. Whoever bests you in battle is your superior, am I right? And if I let you live, you owe me."

"Essentially," she grimaced, "you did beat me, though I think it was dumb luck more than anything else, your majesty. So are you going to try to kill me?" She smirked at her last comment.

"I'm going to let you go."

He got off her, watching her as warily as one would watch a loose lioness.

She got to her feet and put her dagger away.

"You will have to run," she said, "he'll send more after you, realising that his huntress has failed him. He'll send worse than me, he'll send Reapers."

"Lie, say that you killed me. That is an order; that is the price you must pay for me letting you go with your life."

"I doubt you could have killed me," she retorted, smirking slightly and putting her hand on one hip, "you are too clumsy with that sword boy. However I shall do as you ask. From then on, I owe you nothing."

"Deal."

She looked behind him to the deep, dark forest that stretched for miles and was full of wild and strange creatures.

"Good luck out there. I don't think you'll survive more than a week little Prince."

Nick glowered at her, but wisely chose to stay silent.

Without a parting comment, h turned and walked into the forest, with no idea of where he would go, how he would survive, or why his life had changed so much within a few minutes.


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N.- I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who reviewed, I've never had that many reviews for one chapter before, so thank you :') Also, you guys get to choose if this will be slash or not. In any case, if what you chose gets out-voted, I'll still do my very best to make sure both sides are happy, I promise :)**

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Nick wandered through the woods desperately trying to think.

"_Perhaps I should travel to one of the next kingdoms,_" he thought, _"I don't like the idea of being a traitor, but the King Regent, my own uncle, has turned against me."_ But then he grimaced, "_what of the stories are true? What if all the Royal families are cruel beings that use monsters to carry out their evil plans? That's what my parents and my aunt always taught me, and why should I doubt them? No, I'll have to go my own way, maybe try and get the people on my side and then build up an army to go against my step-father, it's the only way. People will follow me, even though my step-father is popular with the commoners, so am I and I am the rightful heir to the throne anyway."_

The woods became darker and quieter the further in he walked_. "I need to find running water; that always leads to civilisation eventually."_

Checking the sun in the sky, he opted to walk further north. The southern part of his kingdom contained many towns that were ruled by Renard's lackeys and he didn't want to risk asking them for help. Further north was more wild and desolate, but the people were free of the politics of the castle and were more traditional, hopefully traditional enough to follow the son of their old king and not his step-father.

"_I can't believe I have to think this way," _he bemoaned, "_why would my step-father do this to me? I've always trusted him. Maybe the huntress was lying? But then why would she?"_ Nick didn't know the huntress well, but he knew how obedient she was to his uncle. He stopped, catching his breath and sat down on a large root of an oak tree that was sticking out of the earth in a loop, wide enough for a man to sit on.

"_I'm an adult now,"_ Nick continued to think, "_I can handle this. Though, Renard always kept me very protected. Then before him my mother constantly kept me in the castle, sometimes she would not even let me leave my room for hours at a time. I don't know the first thing about protecting myself! What shall I eat? Aunt Marie kept saying she was going to teach me stuff but she never got round to it before she passed away three years ago. I don't know what's dangerous out here and what's safe. I have no food with me. Oh god,_" he leaned forward and put his head in his hands, _"my god, am I going to die out here? Why has Renard done this to me...I thought he cared about me?"_

Nicks parents had died when Nick was only ten years old, so for him Renard was the closest thing to a father he had during his pre-teens and adolescence. After Aunt Marie had died, Renard was the closest thing Nick had to family. How could somebody who had known him almost all his life, suddenly betray him like that?

"_I have to stay away from Renard for now,"_ he decided, _"even if the huntress was lying, even if he is innocent in all this, the castle is a dangerous place for me now, because someone wants to kill me, even if it isn't him. It's better to keep going north and to get help from there before facing Renard again."_

Taking a deep breath and trying to still his fast beating heart as to prevent himself from panicking, Nick eventually got back onto his feet and continued his travels north and out of the Royal woods.

It took two hours of walking, (and Nick becoming increasingly sweaty and tired,) before he found a small babbling stream. The young inexperienced Prince almost wept with joy at the sight of it. Water led to people, eventually, it always did, and in the meantime he could perhaps catch fish in it for food and drink it. He had found a way of sustaining himself, even if the stream would take several miles before it hit a village or town.

He knelt down and dunk his head in to the water, drinking deeply. The water was so cold it hurt his throat and for a moment he thought he was going to throw the water back up. Luckily, after a few minutes of breathing deeply, he realised the water was staying down, and so this time cupped his hands into the water and used them as a bowel for the water, tipping small amounts of it into his dry mouth.

He was tempted to just sit by the stream, enjoying its cool, especially as he was certain that the hot sun had given him sun-stroke, but he roused himself up to keep going north. He didn't want to be in the woods overnight if he could help it. He had heard stories of wolves the size of men and of wicked snake people and vicious bears and their ceremonies of sacrificing young, virgin humans to their ancient rites. Nick wasn't sure how much of these old stories were truth and how much were fiction designed to scare children, but now that he was trapped in the woods, he decided it would be better to err on the side of caution and to take seriously every story his aunt and mother had ever told him.

By the time of mid-afternoon the thick trees lessened until Nick was safely out of the woods and now in a hilly landscape covered with grass and cattle and sheep.

Soon he saw a figure on one of the hills and he ran towards them.

"Hello!" he called, seeing the person turn around to look at him. It was a woman with soft brown hair and gentle eyes. She was watching over many sheep and held a large stick in her hands. She was a shepherdess.

"Hello," he repeated breathlessly once he reached her, "I'm afraid I am somewhat lost, would you be able to tell me where I could stay the night? Like a nearby tavern or something?"

"You're from one of those big southern towns," she stated, appraising him with wry amusement. "I can tell by your clothes. The Midlands don't have many big towns. We are mainly small villages and lonely hermits. The only tavern is two days walk away. What are you doing here? You look rich, where is your entourage of friends and servants?"

"My name is Nick, I have been betrayed and have had to leave home quickly." He glanced at her, "but I'd rather not discuss it too much. Could you help me?"

"Well," she said, "I suppose I can. I live with my brother over the hill. You can stay in our small cottage as long as you need to, but we'll need you to help us out, we don't have much money."

"No problem," smiled Nick charmingly, "you can sell my clothes. The only thing I need to keep is my sword and my ring. Everything else can go. I appreciate what you're doing for me-?" he let the sentence hang in the air.

"Rosalie," she grinned, shaking his hand roughly, "my name is Rosalee the Shepherdess."

xxXXxx

Nick helped Rosalee round up the sheep and to lead them back home. He wasn't as good as Rosalee, and he actually felt a little embarrassed after he fell over trying to grab an errant sheep for the fourth time, but Rosalee was secretly impressed; few people were able to grasp the art of shepherding, especially at her unnatural level, within their entire lives, so that Nick had managed to almost keep up with her was a feat in itself. Nick, she realised, was a cool headed quick learner.

The sky turned a beautiful warm peach as the sun began to sink and changed from its brilliant gold into the deepest red. A few clouds, stretched and lazy, drifted across the sky slowly, the dying rays of the sun catching the edges of the clouds and lighting them up in a beautiful gold. A slow breeze carrying the scent of honeysuckle blew through the land, ruffling the short grass, the long strands of Rosalee's and Nick's hair and the woolly coats of the sheep.

It was cold, being so high up on the hills, but Nick appreciated what he was seeing. "It' very beautiful here," he commented.

"It is beautiful, milord, but it's lonely sometimes."

"At least you have your brother."

"I guess so." She smiled warmly, "have you never been to this part of the land milord?"

"No, I'm used to the city in the south. This is the furthest north I've ever been. I'm regretting not coming earlier, but I was very busy in the south."

"Doing the sort of things all rich folks do I suppose milord?" she returned, "getting drunk and messing with women, hunting in royal forests just for sport and lording it over folk like me."

"We aren't all like that," he said gently, "don't judge me by all rich men's standards. My parents were rich but were good and I like to think I'm good. I don't tease women or hunt for sport though I may have drunk too much now and then," he smiled briefly, and she returned it, and he was glad that he had managed to lighten the mood, "I think some people are good and some people are bad and some people are corruptible. I don't think class has much to do with that. Though maybe, when people have a lot of power, it is easier for them to take advantage or to become cruel."

"You sound like you're talking from experience milord."

"Perhaps I am. Please stop with all the 'milord' stuff. You can just call me Nick."

"Very well."

They walked in silence for a moment before she added, "I am sorry if I offended you. I get a bit carried away sometimes. I never knew I was prejudiced against the rich until I met you just now!" she laughed a little, but it was without humour.

"It's alright, I am guessing that you've had some bad experiences with the upper classes?"

"My brother and I were thrown out of our land, sent into exile to this province, from the wealthy rulers in our homeland. We're somewhat resentful."

"What did you do to deserve such treatment?"

"We weren't criminals or anything like that. It's just because of who we are, for something that we couldn't help. But...but I suppose I would rather not talk about that, in the same way you'd rather not speak about your betrayal."

Nick let a think smile grace his lips, "fair enough, I suppose."

Soon enough, as the sun became lower and the sky transformed from its gentle peach hue to a deeper, richer blue as twilight drew on, a small cottage appeared at the bottom of a hill. As they got closer Nick saw a slim trail of smoke coming from its chimney. Closer still and he could smell food cooking, and various flowers growing all about its garden.

"The sheep will need to be rounded into the back." said Rosalee, "help me put them away and then I'll introduce you to my brother."


	3. Chapter 3

Nick ended up just watching while Rosalee led the sheep into their pens.

"Will they not be attacked by wolves?" he asked, "why don't you keep them indoors overnight?"

"There are almost two hundred sheep here, and we can't keep them indoors. They're not quite the same as pigs or horses; they are hardy enough to stay outside over night. After dinner, Freddy, my brother, will come out and watch them." She brushed back an unruly piece of hair and fixed Nick with a steady gaze, "I have caught glimpses of a wolf, a large brown one, loitering about on the hillsides, but it keeps itself far from me and my sheep. Freddy thinks we should leave the sheep alone over night, but I don't want to risk it."

"Does he not care about the wolf?"

"He has never seen it, only I have. At first he took me seriously but after the third time I called for his help, screaming that I had seen a wolf, he ceased to believe me. He never says it, but I can see the cynicism in his eyes."

She took Nick round to the front of the house and opened the door. It had been left unlocked. The smell of seasoned meat and vegetables reached Nick's nose and he felt his mouth water; he hadn't eaten in hours.

"Come in" grinned Rosalee, "and meet my brother."

They walked into the small cottage. It was essentially one large, ground floor space that was sectioned off into three distinct pieces. One part was separated by a thin curtain hanging off a rail and so serving as a door. "That's where I sleep," Rosalee had informed Nick, "my brother stays out of it, saying I deserve my privacy, but there's nothing in there but a few bits of clothing and my little bed. Freddy sleeps in the living room on this here couch."

The main room was the one that you would stand in the moment you walked through the front door. It had one couch that looked worn down and broken, two small chairs and a thin rug on top of wooden floor boards.

"Made of oak," Rosalee said, "so that they'll last as long as the stone walls. This may not look much to a lord like yourself, but for us country folk, this cottage is impressive and will stand long after we are dead."

She then pointed to the final section, which was left open for him to see. "That is the kitchen, come."

A man, haring them coming up from behind, turned away from his cooking and smiled warily at Nick.

"Who is this?" he asked his sister, not removing his eyes from Nick.

"This is a rich man with many problems brother, he's come to stay with us for a little while. He said we could sell his various clothes and jewellery."

Nick smiled as friendly as possible at the cautious Frederick; the man did not look very much like Rosalee, and he was older than her. He looked quite rustic, as she did, wearing heavy working boots caked in mud, strong brown trousers, sporting an evening-shadow-beard and with close-cut hair. The one thing that wasn't very rustic was his colourful shirt.

Rosalee walked over to him and slapped his forearm, "why are you wearing bright red top?" She hissed in his ear.

"Relax," he sneered, "there are no wolves here, I've told you this. What is your name, rich man?"

"Nick," answered the Prince automatically, "I hope you don't mind me being here, I don't want to cause any trouble."

"But no doubt you will, if you are running away from it, it is obviously chasing after you, and when it finds you, you will be here."

Nick nodded slightly, remembering Juliette's warning that the King Regent would send out Reapers as soon as he discovered the truth. Nick didn't want anyone getting hurt because of him and so answered, "I won't be here too long, I swear it."

"Hmm, he seems sincere," the brother looked at Rosalee, "I'm not sure rich men can be sincere." She shrugged but smiled. "I'm Frederick, by the way, pleased to meet you," Rosalee's brother shook Nick's hand and the Prince smiled, feeling the icy atmosphere thawing away into something warmer and more comfortable for everyone.

They ate a hearty meal that night, stew with chunks of mutton and assorted vegetables. They even had a small loaf of bread which they broke up and ate with the stew. Nick enjoyed the feast, and the other two were impressed that such a 'high born rich man' would so happily eat their country, rustic food; what he didn't tell them was that his aunt Marie had practically raised him on simple, healthy foods.

"So," Nick peered up at them, curious to ask but uncertain if he should, "earlier...you guys were talking about Frederick's shirt and wolves. Why?"

"The wolves are attracted to red," sighed Rosalee.

"It's nonsense," interjected Freddy, causing Rosalee to roll her eyes, "there's no real evidence of that, it's just old crone talk. Besides, there are no wolves here."

"How do you know it's just talk if there are no wolves here?" challenged Nick, "surely you haven't had chance to find out. Maybe it's better not to risk it..."

"I never thought high-borns thought much about peasant talk," answered Freddy without missing a beat, "I thought you were all educated cynics. Anyway, our old country used to have some wolves. The winter would bring them out of their deep forests, all teeth and hunger and wildness. But we could handle them. We aren't sheep, we aren't voles and we aren't any of those weaker species," he looked up and smirked at his sister and Nick couldn't help feeling that there was something very significant that they were keeping from him; but he didn't want to push for more information, after all, he was keeping a big secret himself.

"It brings too much attention to us; red is a rich man's colour," sniffed Rosalee, which was true. The reason why Nick had first noticed Freddy's shirt was because it was common knowledge that only the very rich could afford to dye their clothes red or purple.

"Well I like to imagine I'm a rich man sometimes," laughed Freddy, "I'm sure you understand, eh Nick!"

After their meal, the siblings immediately went back to work; Rosalee wandered into the kitchen and began cleaning everything down with religious fervour.

"Rats come if there is any dirt or food," Freddy explained as he put on his cloak and working boots. "So we have to make sure everything is spik and span after we finish eating. I'm off to do the night watch, make sure no lambs are stolen away by a mysterious wolf."

"Well as I'm staying here maybe I can help out," offered the prince, "I can do a night watch, and I can do cleaning as well."

Freddy laughed heartily, "I doubt a high born can clean all that well, but you're welcome to help us watch the sheep at night in the future. If anything scary comes to take them away, you can scare them off with that pretty sword of yours."

Nick looked at his weapon, he had felt a little self-conscious of it since Juliette the Huntress mocked it, and even now he felt like Freddy Calvert was laughing at him a little.

"Rest yourself for tonight," the male Calvert said, giving nick's arm a manly pat, "you are clearly exhausted. Rest and recuperate. We'll put you to work tomorrow, don't worry!"

He opened the front door, letting in a gush of cold wind, which lifted up his cloak. Nick noticed that while the top of the cloak was a dull green, underneath it was a deep red colour.

He opened his mouth to say something, but in a moment Freddy was gone and Nick decided that surely Freddy knew what he was doing. _"No, I shouldn't interfere,"_ he decided to himself, settling back down on the couch watching the flickering flames of the fire. In the entire cottage, the flames were the only real colour. Everything else was a faded shade of greens, blacks and browns. He shuddered, it was pretty cold. Winter was fast approaching and the cottage was made out of stone and so welcomed in the frost and icy winds.

"_I will soon be travelling further north,"_ he thought, "_where it will be even colder. I will need to leave this place as soon as I have new clothes. I will ask them to take me to the market whenever they next go down to sell their lamb and mutton and wool. There I will buy some clothes with whatever money I have left, and then continue north incognito. Hopefully I shall only be here a few days at best."_

Rosalee wandered back into the main sitting room and plonked herself down by the tired Prince. She brushed his hair back in a motherly manner.

"How old are you Nick?"

"Twenty-three," he lied, "why?"

"It's strange," she frowned, "you seem so very young to look at, but your eyes look like they belong to a world-weary old man."

"I feel like I've aged a lot in the last few hours," he answered honestly, "I was stuck in the Royal forest for hours today, and it was one of the worst times of my life."

"Are the woods so scary?"

"It wasn't so much that, though how deep and menacing and dark they were didn't help, no, it was more so the reason why I was there."

"The betrayal," she breathed cautiously. He nodded, not noticing that he was now lying on her chest and his feet were on the couch; he looked like a frightened child curling up beside his supportive mother. "Who betrayed you Nick? Who did that?"

"Someone I love," he said, staring at the flames, "someone I never thought would want to hurt me. Someone who, had he just asked, I would have given him what he wanted anyway. I don't want my heritage. He can have it. Or he could have had..."

She placed a chaste kiss on the crown of his head.

"You have been betrayed as well?" his comment hung between statement and question.

"Yes," she replied at length, "Freddy made a bad situation worse. We annoyed some very powerful people. But it's alright; we are safe, hiding out here, living simple lives."

"I don't think Freddy likes his simple life." Nick thought back to the red cloak.

"Well he'll have to get used to it."

Nick let off a small laugh before a long, achingly haunting howl ripped through the night sky and into the cottage. The pair leapt to their feet.

"That was a wolf's cry!" she screamed, "a wolf that has caught itself some prey!"

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**A.N.- The next chapter will have a lot of action in it, to make up for the last two chapters which have been quite slow-paced and 'talky'. Also Monroe will make a proper appearance then. Thank you so much for all the reviews guys, you're a very supportive fandom :')**


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N. Normally I never up-load a chapter this quickly. Please, if you have time, leave a review.**

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Rosalee and Nick promptly ran out of the cottage and to the sheep pen. It was empty.

"He must have walked the sheep over to the hills!"

"But why?" asked Nick, "why would he do that? Wasn't he meant to just watch over them in their pens?"

"It's what we would normally do at this time of year," she spoke quickly looking around trying to catch any sign of Freddy's whereabouts, "we keep them out during the warmer weather because they can eat more and become fatter, which is good for us. It's only in winter that we pack them away so closely to the house. Oh goddess, I don't know which hill top he's taken them to!"

There was another terrible, pained howl of a wolf, which made Nick draw his sword and Rosalee to grip an axe she had grabbed from near the fireplace.

"It sounds like it's hurt," Nick muttered.

"I recognise the kind of wolf it is, and if it is hurt, then it will be just as likely to rip our faces off if it finds us." She sniffed the air for a while before ordering, "come, this way."

"What, you can smell your brother?"

"Yes."

"How?" Nick was amazed, he hadn't known anyone to have a sense of smell that good...

"Just shut up Nick!" she snapped, stress lines showing on her face. Nick was sure that for that moment, Rosalee's face changed slightly, changed into something more animalistic, but he shook his head and ignored his innate feelings screaming at him to run away from her or to run her through with his sword, maybe it was just the lighting of the moon or something.

They ran up one steep hill which was closer to the Royal forest; Nick was pretty healthy - his aunt had made sure of that- but as they ran he could feel his chest hurting as the cold wind he sucked in made his lungs ache. He couldn't believe that the Calverts considered this weather to be 'warmer'; it was very cold to him! Soon they began to see traces of the sheep, their dung had been left in various places on the ground and it wasn't long before they could hear terrified _baa's_ calling out into the night sky.

They reached the peak and looked down, the white fluffy creatures could just be seen in the darkness, they were huddled closely together and making a lot of noise. The wolf howled again, and Nick saw the sheep shuffle nervously, they were uncertain of which direction to run in and he could understand why; the howl echoed in such a way that it was impossible to tell where it originated.

Rosalee let out a feral growl as she scanned the ground for her brother.

"Rosalee I need to tell you-"

"Stop talking Nick!" her voice sounded violent and animalistic, but he continued on.

"I need to tell you that I think Freddy is wearing red."

She looked at him suddenly, her eyes wide and round and her teeth looking unnaturally sharp, "what did you say?"

"I'm not certain, but I think the cloak he wore tonight had red colouring underneath, I only saw for a moment before he went out the door. I'm sorry."

Rosalee began to sniff the air again, before running down the hill at break neck speed. Nick followed her at the same pace, but his eyesight wasn't as good as hers. He tripped and fell, hitting his head on a boulder. There was a moment of silence and darkness where he was temporarily unconscious. During this time Rosalee had continued to make her way down hill, having the scent of her brother, she had completely forgotten about Nick.

After a few minutes, the Prince groaned and touched his head, he could feel the sticky wetness of blood. Muttering under his breath, he tried to stand but a wave of dizziness made him fall back on to his knees, his head hanging low.

Then he remembered that there was a wolf nearby. "Damn!" he muttered, ripping his shirt sleeve off and using that to tie around his head in order to stem the bleeding. His vision cleared enough for him to look down the hill again. The sheep were still there, though they seemed slightly more dispersed, but he couldn't see either of the Calverts.

A tingling sensation prickled the back of his neck and sent a shiver up his spine; someone was watching him. Someone or something.

Nick turned around quickly. He could see something move quickly out of his line of sight, but it was so dark he couldn't make it out. But whatever it was it was low to the ground.

Nick swallowed down the growing panic and fear. It was like when Juliette attacked him, he just needed to stay calm and focused. He pulled out his sword and forced himself to his feet.

A low snarl answered the sound of the sword being released.

Nick gripped the blade, remembering that the creature had sounded in pain before so that there was a chance it was injured.

He turned around in a circle, awkwardly because he was on the side of a steep hill, but sure enough, to his left two red eyes were watching him with a disconcerting level of focus. As their eyes met the creature growled again, and Nick watched his horror as the eyes drew up higher and higher as the wolf stood up on to its hind-legs. At its full height it stood against the large, white face of the moon and Nick could see that it was a hulking monster, part humanoid, part wolf.

"What?" gasped Nick, "what is this?"

Its drooling jaws snapped, showing Nick's it's many teeth.

He pointed the sword at it and let out a war-cry.

Nick ran towards it, the wolf letting out a monstrous roar that was so powerful it almost knocked the Prince back on his ass. Luckily Nick held fast and drove the sword into the beast's side, barely grazing the tough, rough hide of the wolf, just as it grabbed his stomach in its mouth and flung him to the side.

The monster then began to scamper away.

Bleeding heavily from both his head and his side Nick looked up in shock; the creature was afraid. It easily could have killed him but it chose not to. He looked down at his sword and saw that it had snapped in two. It had barely touched the wolf yet it was so damaged; he could see why the others had laughed at it. But he also knew that the wolf couldn't possibly be afraid of it. If it had been afraid of Nick it definitely would have killed him once the weapon was destroyed, and if the wolf was out to cause mindless violence it still would have killed him out of spite. It didn't make sense for the wolf to run away.

Nick got to his feet and ran in the direction the wolf had gone. He suddenly felt confident that the Calverts were probably fine, and that there was definitely something strange and unusual happening here that perhaps the Calverts knew of but weren't telling him. All evening, it seemed they had been dropping little hints; and he knew that this creature was no ordinary wolf.

He had to get to the bottom of it!


	5. Chapter 5

**A.N. I apologise that this chapter took so long. I was without the internet for a couple of weeks, and work is mad at the moment. Still, it's the holidays soon, so hopefully updates will be more consistent in the next couple of weeks. I also have a storyline for this story more or less finalised now, so the story will be slightly less WIP and a bit more focused.**

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed or faved! I would love to hear any critiques, con-crit, comments or pairings you would like.**

**Warnings: I struggled to write this chapter, so it might not be up to scratch but I didn't want to keep people waiting even longer. But as I mentioned before,t he story should hopefully improve here on out, please stay with me and please keep commenting.**

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Nick's heart pounded against his chest and his lungs burned as he raced over the hills after the canine beast. He wasn't even sure if he could call it a wolf like the Calverts had, it was too large and its eyes, which he had only glimpsed at, seemed too intelligent.

A cloud moved away from the moon, letting the white light shine down on the earth and illuminating the land once more. Looking down temporarily, Nick saw spatters of dark blood in the grass. "_It's seriously hurt_," he realised.

They were near the Woods now. The wolf, walking, limped into the trees and vanished into their shadows. Nick followed it cautiously. The darkness of the woods fell over him like a heavy shroud. His pupils dilated, trying to get accustomed to the change in darkness. Nick focused more on his other senses; he could smell the heavy scent of dog, and he could hear a slight rustling in the undergrowth.

_"Where ever it is,"_ he reasoned, _"it knows where I am. In fact, I think it's watching me right now."_

Gulping, Nick stood up slowly and stretched out his arms, showing that he was unarmed. He knew what he was doing would be seen as foolish by many, that he was showing himself to be vulnerable to a massive wolf, but something inside his heart told him that this was the right thing to do. He knew that the wolf was injured and he wasn't sure if Calvert had been hurt. His innate sense of justice and fairness told him that it wouldn't be right to just assume to wolf was dangerous and had committed murder, and to kill it in anger.

"I know you're hurt," he said, his voice low and husky, "I'm not gonna hurt you boy. Come on, I swear, I swear."

("_This is crazy_!" he thought to himself, "_I'm crazy doing this_! _Talking to a wolf, reasoning with one, what's wrong with me?"_)

"My name is Nicholas, come on out, I won't hurt you. I want to help you."

He stopped talking when he heard something shuffling towards him. He strained his eyes in the darkness and sure enough he saw the large, hairy wolf crawling out of what looked like a small grove at the foot of a tree some feet in front of him and making its way to Nick. The wolf's eyes focused on the Prince, they looked anxious and mistrusting, but desperate at the same time.

Nick, encouraged, knelt down on one knee. "That's it, I'm not armed, come on boy, let me look at you."

The wolf leaned forward and rested its head on Nick's lap. Its light brown eyes peered up at the Prince, it obviously was still scared but Nick knew that it was too weak to really fight Nick now anyway.

He patted its head softly, still feeling a little foolish but wanting to comfort the beast. The wolf's hair was long and matted. He rubbed his hands down across its jaws, praying that it wouldn't snap them off, and was relieved to find there was no blood on its mouth. That meant it hadn't bitten or killed anyone, not less eaten anyone.

"Alright boy, let's see what's happened to you."

He let it lay on its side as he began to feel slowly down its body, stretching out his fingers and letting them dip in to the thick fur. The wolf's body underneath it all was quite thin, he could feel its ribs, but it was also warm and soft, like human skin only tougher.

The wolf's tail thumped up and down slowly, beating against the floor letting dew drops splash up into the air every time. Nick could not really see it but he could hear it.

He softly lifted the wolf's large head from his lap (it whined softly at this but cut off the noise, as if it were embarrassed that it had made it t begin with) making Nick stifle a giggle.

"It's alright boy," he said again, "I just need t check you further down."

It inched down the side of the wolf, feeling with his hands again and marvelling at its size. "This is no ordinary wolf," he thought. Suddenly wetness came on to his fingers and the wolf yelped and reared up.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" cried Nick, going to the wolf's face and pushing it back to the ground, "I'm sorry, just calm down please. Calm down, I just found your injury is all."

Nick assumed his calming voice had an effect on the wolf, as it lay itself back down immediately, panting hard from the pain but keeping still nonetheless.

"You'd make an obedient dog," said Nick, earning a growl from the wolf. Nick said nothing more, but already inside something was telling him that this wolf quite clearly understood him. He brushed the thought away (nonsense, that's just nonsense) and returned to the wound.

He felt around it, feeling the wolf wince as he did. The wound was unusual, it was deep and had been made by something round and hard.

"What causes an injury like this?" he thought.

"I need to get this wound sewn up," he said out-loud, "or else you're going to keep on bleeding. I think something might be in there as well, so we'll need to get it out or you'll be infected and will die painfully at a later date. I'll take you to the farmhouse, the Calverts can help us. Come on big guy, you can walk that far."

The wolf got to its feet painfully, and followed Nick, loping up and down hills with his tongue hanging out and breathing heavily.

xxXXxx

The cottage was dark and empty when they returned. Nick fanned the dying embers of the living room fire, bringing to back to its former glory.

With light and heat he searched through the Calvert's kitchen until he found a needle and some thread. The wolf looked even more massive in the tiny cottage. It was at least seven foot long, its long fur being a mix of deep brown and red tones with light blond highlights (emphasised by the light of the fire) scattered within the browns. If it wasn't for the large, bone-shattering teeth and large obsidian black claws, Nick would have described the wolf as pretty.

He looked at the wolf's wound and saw something was inside it. Getting a knife he quickly jabbed out the black, foreign object, wincing as the wolf howled loudly in pain.

"Easy boy!" he gasped, putting his hand on its head. The wolf's eyes were a deep red as it glowered at him momentarily (Nick gulped and felt sweat breaking out on his brow) before it lay it's head back down, the eyes darkening, becoming a soft brown and taking on the strange human-like intelligence.

Ignoring the object, the Prince sewed up the wolf quickly and efficiently with the skill of a man trained as a soldier (thanks again to his aunt.) He then got a bowel of water for the wolf to tiredly lap at before fell asleep.

Nick let out a sigh of relief as he heard the creature softly snoring. He looked at the object he had pulled out of its side. It was a smooth black ball that looked like it was made of lead. How had such a thing made its way so deeply into the hide of a wolf? It must have taken some force to ram it into a creature so tough and so fast.

Still, he had no time to muse on the thing. The Calverts were still missing. Taking the sharp knife he had used on the wolf, he walked back outside into the darkness.

_"I'll go to where the sheep are and try rounding them up,"_ he decided, _"the Calverts are either by the sheep or hunting for the wolf. If they are by the sheep then I'll find them. If they are hunting for the wolf, they'll return home by morning."_

He wondered if they would find the wolf before he returned to the cottage, but he decided that the wolf could probably manage himself, even if he was injured. Praying that no one would get killed, he set off to find the sheep.

xxXXxx

As Nick stood at the top of the hill looking down into the valley where the sheep stood making noise and panicking softly, he noticed something strange. There was a creature rounding them up and slowly helping them move towards the cottage (and by default, towards him). At first he thought it as some sort of dog, which was strange enough as the culverts, by what he had seen, owned no sheep dog. But then as a cloud moved away from the large, fat moon he saw in the cold white light that it was a small dog-fox that was herding the sheep. He had never heard of anything like this in his life!

_"Something unusual is definitely going on here!"_ he thought, _"the Calverts are keeping something from me. They aren't normal people and that fox is no normal fox."_

Suddenly feeling put out, Nick sat n the grass, ignoring the damp, and chewed n a stalk as he waited for the fluffy mammals to reach them. When they did, he began to take charge of the front, using the same calls he had heard Rosaleen earlier that day. The sheep, recognising the human calls and directions, immediately seemed to calm down and followed him at a leisurely pace. The fox, slightly larger than most dog-fox's, passed him and caught his eye, but then went ahead. Unlike the wolf there was no obvious intelligence in this canine's expression, but Nick was already suspecting something like the truth at this point.

The sheep were led back into their pens, though there seemed to be noticeably less than there was earlier.

The fox began to walk back out into the wilderness but Nick called out, "wait! Don't go!" The fox looked back at him, its tongue lolling out and its breath like a fine mist in the night, "it's too cold to keep going out, we'll both catch cold or will freeze if we keep searching. The wolf isn't out there anymore, so the sheep will be relatively safe until morning, unless they are fool enough to go into the forest. I want to know what's going on here, I know you are normal wolf," Nick stepped closer to the fox, watching it watching him carefully, "you are not just a fox, you must be human, you have human thoughts, you must do in order to be able to lead sheep alone like you have. A fox cannot be trained to do such things. And for you to know where the sheep belonged to means you must know this cottage. So you either know the people here, or...or you are someone who lives here."

The fox suddenly grinned, its sharp needle teeth glittering horribly; it looked obscene, a creature that shouldn't be able to pull it's lips in that way suddenly making such an expression, and Nick recoiled slightly. The fox began to shudder and shake bizarrely before the fur shredded off, revealing human skin underneath, and the fox itself began to grow bigger, it's body contorting, it's bones snapping and re-fixing themselves until a naked, sweaty and dishevelled Freddy Calvert stood in front of the flabbergasted prince.

"Well done sir," smiled Freddy, "I guess you figured it out."


	6. Chapter 6

"Where is my sister?" asked Freddy sniffing the air lightly.

"She was looking for you," answered Nick, his soft and calm voice not betraying his inner horror and terror at the metamorphism he had just witnessed. "There was a wolf out earlier, and we knew you were wearing red, s she panicked and ran out after you. I lost her out on these hills."

"You said that the wolf wasn't a problem, had you actually managed to kill it?"

"No, it's recuperating back in your cottage."

Freddy let out a humourless laugh that sounded like a bark, "are you kidding me? You're serious? What is wrong with you, are you insane? What are you doing bringing a creature that wants to kill and eat us all into our own home?" Freddy began to walk to the cottage, "we will deal with the wolf, then you leave and never talk about us to anyone and never return to this place, is that understood?"

"What about Rosalee?" cried out Nick, his heart beating rapidly as he thought about the wolf and what Freddy wanted to do to it, "shouldn't we look for her?"

"You said yourself that it's too cold, besides she is more capable of looking after herself than sheep, trust me."

Nick chased after the man as he stalked towards the cottage door.

"Where were you Freddy? Rosalee and I were panic stricken trying to find you!"

"I smelt the wolf, so I went into my other form." Freddy ripped open the door, the wolf, large and bronze snarled at him, its eyes as red as wine.

"Jesus!" roared Fred. The wolf was so large that there was no way of getting past it to get into the cottage unless you scrambled over its hide, and evidently the wolf was not going to allow Frederick that passage.

The wolfs head reared up as the warning snarl became a deep, thunderous growling, it's jaws beginning to froth and drool dripping to the floor.

Frederick slammed the door shut and glared at Nick, "you put that thing in our home? You're insane!"

"Let me deal with the wolf, it isn't dangerous. It's just in pain."

Freddy snorted in derisive laughter but allowed Nick to go ahead and open the door. The wolf looked at Nick, but did nothing. Its eyes returned to a calm brown as Nick sat next to it and began to stroke its head.

"He hasn't killed anything," the Prince said, not removing his gaze from the powerful beast, "the only blood I found on him was his own. It would be unjust to kill him."

"Unjust! Unjust! You really are crazy, crazy or stupid! It will kill us all as soon as it gets a chance!"

Nick ignored Freddy for a while, focusing on stroking the wolf, who looked sleepy and soothed once more. After a few minutes of standing out in cold, Freddy shivered and climbed over the wolf, shutting the door behind him and grabbing a blanket from the couch and wrapping his naked form up tight.

"I wonder," said Nick quietly.

"You wonder what mad man?"

"I wonder if you didn't do this on purpose."

"What do you mean by that?" Freddy's lips curled up in a snarl, but his voice was kept low; he didn't want to wake the wolf.

"You went out into the hills wearing red, even though your sister warned you of wolves, and obviously this kind of wolf is no stranger to you. You mentioned having wolves in your old land."

Freddy let out a yawn, "why would I purposely want a wolf to come, especially this breed?"

Nick said nothing, keeping a silent vigil next to the wolf while Freddy succumbed to the warmth of the fire and fell asleep, but Nick thought to himself, _"I don't know, but I intend to find out!"_

Realising that the fox man was asleep, Nick got an extra blanket from out of Rosalee's room and set it over the man, wanting to ensure he didn't catch a cold. Then he checked the wolf's wound, which seemed clean and the skin around it, whilst puckered and red, looked far less angry than before. Nick was no healer, but it seemed to be healthy and clean, which was the best they could hope for.

He looked at the wolf's sleeping face. Why did he try so hard to save the wolf? Nick had always had a strong sense of justice, was it just that coming into play? Would he have attacked the wolf if it had killed something or someone? He was relatively certain that he would have done. Justice was justice, after all. You get the bad and you help the good, it was that simple, or so he had always been led to believe by his aunt.

"_Shouldn't I be out, looking for Rosalee?"_ he wondered sleepily, "_but then Freddy doesn't seem too concerned, and the most dangerous thing is in this house...maybe she'll be alright...she should be alright... I'll wait another half hour or so and then I'll look for her if she doesn't make it back by then. Freddy and the wolf are asleep, so hopefully won't kill each other in that time..."_

Nick let out a soft, tired sigh, before leaning his head against the wolf's neck. It was so warm and comfortable, surprising, as he would have thought that the fur would be rough and scratchy, but it was alright.

Before he realised it, he had fallen fast asleep.

The light of the morning was as pale and non-descript as the moons rays had been. The sky was a uniform white, like a slightly mottled sheet of paper. The wind was strong and biting as winter crept into the land. Autumn and all its beauty and fruits were dying. The peasants would say that if the autumn was particularly warm and kind, that the winter would be a crueller master than usual, freezing all in its dark path; in a few weeks the land would be cold and desolate for an entire season and thousands of living souls would die.

Nick snorted and woke up, spitting out a mouth full of long fur. The wolf was still below him, it's fur looking more grey than it had the night before. Maybe it was the pale light shining on it...

Nick gasped, it was daytime!

He looked up at the couch to see Freddy up and awake and in the process of pulling on his boots.

"Oh my goddess, Rosalee is still out there! Fred I'm sorry-"

"It's fine, I'm gonna go look for her now," Freddy looked at the Prince square in the eye, "but if it turns out that beast has done anything to my sister, I'll burn down this cottage with you and it still inside."

He was about to walk towards the door when suddenly it swung open and Rosalee stood there, eyes wide with fear but looking alive.

"Rosalee!" both men cried before they saw someone standing behind her. Rosalee stepped out of the way to reveal a smirking red-head who had a sword against Rosalee's back.

"Juliette?" gasped Nick, she had caught up with him already! "Please, don't hurt these two shepherds, they're innocent and know nothing."

"What shit have you got us into now Nick?" griped Freddy, understandably peeved.

"Don't worry," said Juliette, still up-holding her sword and smirk, "I'm not here to kill you your Majesty, I want to join you."

There was a brief silence before Freddy shrieked, "Wha-at! 'Your majesty'? Nick, who the hell are you?"

The wolf woke with a start.

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**A.N. Any thoughts about Freddy Calvert or the re-appearance of Juliette? I'm guessin you all know who the wolf is? :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A.N: I am truly sorry it's taken so long to update. Life has been kicking my behind (I haven't even had time to watch the new Grimm series yet!) So it's taken a while for me to get organised, and as said before this is a work in progress, meaning the chapters aren't pre-written. I'm sorry folks. Hopefully this chapter won't seem rushed and hopefully will be an enjoyable read.**

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**Last time:** A young Prince called Nick was almost assassinated by the King Regents (his own uncle Renard) Huntress, Juliette. Juliette says she did it all on Renard's orders. Nick barely escapes her. Eventually he meet two shepherds, Rosalee and Freddy Calvert. In the evening, a wolf is heard. Nick and the Calverts run outside and lose one another. Nick finds an unusually large but overall placid wolf which is injured. Guided by his moral compass he takes the wolf back to the Calverts cottage and fixes him up. Freddy returns and everyone sleeps until the following morning when Rosalee suddenly arrives at the front door, closely followed by a sword and Juliette the Huntress.

* * *

"Alright, everyone just needs to stay calm..."

"Stay calm!" Freddy interrupted the Prince, "stay calm? There's a giant wolf, a prince and a sword wielding maniac in my front room! Don't tell me to stay calm!"

Juliette smirked, "I just need Prince Nicholas to come with me. I won't hurt you your majesty, but I will hurt the pretty lady if you don't follow me."

"What danger have you put us in Nick?" hissed Rosalee, and instantly the Prince felt guilt tug at his heart.

"I'm sorry, I never meant to put either of you in danger. Juliette, you say you aren't here to kill me, so please lower your sword." She paused for a moment, but finally gave into his plea. In turn Rosalee slowly made her way to the couch where she placed herself stiffly next to her brother.

"My name is Nicholas Burkhardt the Third of the Royal Family of the Southern Kingdom," said Nick after taking a deep breath; he knew he owed it to the siblings to come clean, "our home situated within the southern Port-lands. I was running away from my Uncle the King Regent. I can't go into any more detail for fear you will both knew too much and will be harmed because of it. This woman is one of the King Regents loyal servants. I thank you both for taking such kind care of me, and now I shall be on my way. I doubt our paths will cross again, but if anyone else comes here looking for me claim that you did not know who I was and that some vicious wolf killed me, is that alright?"

The pair nodded, both looking too stunned by the wealth of information to truly process the requests he had made.

"Thank you, please keep this wolf alive and set him free, as he will be evidence of my death." Nick looked down at the wolf, who was watching Juliette with intelligent brown eyes. It seemed amazingly calm, at complete odds with its wild appearance. The Prince bowed lightly, before walking out of the front door following Juliette, feeling more saddened at leaving the three friends he had made more than he had when he had been forced to leave the castle.

Outside was cooler than it had been the day before, but the bright pink sky was promising warmth as the sun rose higher. A rich and vibrant autumn was approaching; Nick could smell the on-set at winter.

When they had gotten far away enough from the cottage, Nick grabbed Juliette's arm and demanded, "why are you here? Have you come to return me to my Uncle?"

Juliette pulled her arm away and smirked, "only a couple of days from being under the wing of the castle and you already think you're a tough guy. I'm not going to take you to Renard. He is no longer my master. There is somewhere else to you can go, somewhere where you'll be safe."

There was a pause before:

"I don't believe you. You would never betray the King."

"You don't know me Prince Nicholas. After you got away Renard found out quickly enough that had allowed you to escape. Rather than let me earn back his trust in me, he threw me out of the castle. I was destitute. Now I am vengeful, after everything I had done for him and after all the years of service I have provided, he dares to betray me like this! I have been his servant since I was a girl, he owed me more loyalty and charity than what he has shown. My master has become twisted by power, and I think he is not the sort of man I wish to serve any longer. So I am taking you to a neighbouring kingdom, there you can make allies and we can defeat Renard together."

"I'm sorry for everything that has happened to you, believe me Juliette, but I don't want to defeat Renard. If he wants to be King he can, I don't have any interest in ruling the land."

Juliette scoffed in disgust and turned away, "you make me sick, you silly pampered prince. How can you not care? He is on your throne ruling your people!"

"If my uncle was a bad king then I _would_ care, but he isn't. In the time of his Regency the Kingdom has been peaceful. I know the history of this land and know that at one time the seven families were at war, but now the boundaries are up and everyone is calm and comfortable. If me stepping aside helps keep the peace, then that is what I will do. Te minute I go to another kingdom is the minute I doom the land to fall back into warfare. I will not do it; I won't have blood on my hands"

There was a moment of silence as Juliette watched him, her eyes were sharp and predatory. As a slight breeze lifted her red locks he realised that she was one of the most beautiful creatures he had ever known.

"Do you really think that Renard is a good man, a good king?" she said her voice so low and quiet he barely heard it over the rustling grass and distant bleating of sheep. "Look at what he has done to you. He tried to have you murdered. You are his own nephew and he was sworn to protect you. Does this sound like a good man to you? You have been deceived all your days, and now that the truth his slapping you in the face, you deceive yourself." She shook her head in disgust, "I should have known that a child like you, self-centred and over indulged, would be too lazy to bother challenging a corrupt king. But the fact that you are too lazy to even try to save yourself astounds even me."

"There is some truth in what you say," he answered, thinking of his surprise at Renard's betrayal, and that if the man could turn on his own nephew in such a way, then what did he do to his actual enemies? "Why don't you come with me Juliette? I was planning on heading far up north, where the hermits live, and perhaps seeing if I could start a new life up there. What do you say?"

"The Reapers are on your trail, they will never be put off by the North. The cold and desolate landscape is not enough to stave their thirst for blood. They'll kill everyone you, or we, will come across, such as the shepherd and shepherdess you have befriended, and then they'll kill us. We need powerful allies, and there is no power in the north."

"Fine, where is it that you want us to go?"

"To the Eastern Kingdom. There is a powerful Duchess there called the Lady Adalind, she will help us. She is a good woman and has been kind to me in the past. She knows of how treacherous Renard can be and will take us in with open arms."

Nick sighed. He didn't like the sound of going to some random woman for help. In fact, the whole situation seemed to scream 'trap!' at him, but he was uncertain of what else to do. His instincts were telling him to go north, but logically Juliette was correct, the north had nothing but a few old families no one had heard from in decades and vast wastelands of nothingness.

_"It's wrong that I on't even trust my own sort,"_ he thought to himself,_ "I trust the common people of the land more than duchesses and dukes, but considering my uncle's behaviour, it seems that my aversion to royalty was somewhat justified. But maybe that's just prejudice..." _The idea that he was biased in anyway sat badly with him, so eventually he answered; "Alright, we will go to this Lady Adalind, but if there is any talk of war I shall leave you there and continue north myself, is that understood?"

"Perfectly, you majesty," Juliette drawled with a mock bow. The pair chuckled good humouredly and began to walk away when a deep, mournful howl tore into the air.

"What was that?" muttered Nick, turning round and looking back into the direction of the cottage, "it must have been the wolf."

"Come on, we haven't much time."

Nick nodded and followed after the red head, a feeling of deep unease suddenly settling into his soul.

xxXXxx

As soon as the wolf howled, it's call so loud and so low it made the floor reverberate, the fox-siblings, who had been feeling pretty intense anyway, at once transformed and leapt over the couch simultaneously, two tall balls of vermilion-coloured fur whimpering and shaking. Blutbaden were scary when they howled.

The howl turn into very human grunted until finally they heard what sounded like a large man panting from exertion.

"Are you foxes alright?" he called out. His voice was light and friendly.

Rosaleen looked at Freddy questioningly, Freddy shaking his head furiously in response. She rolled her eyes and anxiously got to her feet. The blutbaden was huge...and hairy...even as a man.

He smiled sheepishly, soft brown eyes making him seem weirdly cute, his hands cupped over his genitalia. "Ahahaha, yeeeahh, sorry about this folks. I didn't want to transform before with that man here...and I was pretty sick...so...hey, please stop looking at me like that I'm not going to kill, maim or eat anyone I swear. And will you make that other guy stop hiding behind the couch? Please?"

Rosalee looked down at Freddy, he shook his head again.

"Um, he isn't ready to come up right now." She coughed lightly trying to prevent her voice from shaking too much. "My name is Rosalee. I don't think we'll have any clothes that fit you but, ummm..."

"Oh it's fine, I'll turn back wolf in a moment, but you two needed to be warned. I was listening to the Prince and that woman. She's taking him to Adalind Schade."

"What!" cried both foxes (Freddy leaping up from behind his hiding place) at once their true forms popping out momentarily again. "Is she coming here?"

"I don't know, but as that woman knows that this is your home so you'd be better off leaving now."

The siblings suddenly looked suspicious, "we know what you are," said Rosalee, "why would you help us?"

"Because I don't like being under the domain of that witch," he responded quickly, "I like to be my own wolf. I could have killed you both last night, and taken the Chosen with me, but I didn't. Like the Prince, I want to carve out my own path and my own destiny. Surely you can both understand that?"

"Of course we can," sighed Rosalee, "it's just strange is all. What will you do now?"

"I'm going after the boy."

"But that will take you back to Schade!"

"Maybe, but I'm hoping to convince him to turn back before that happens. It's alright I have a sort-of plan."

"A sort-of plan?" repeated Rosalee incredulously as Freddy groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Look, we will go to the northern hillsides," said Freddy, his disdain for the wolf and his fear of Schade over-riding any anxiety he had previously for the blutbaden, "if you survive and help Nick escape, then meet us up there. We will tell others of his coming, hopefully clearing the passage through the dark woods."

"That would be much appreciated, thank you." He turned back into his wolf form almost effortlessly compared to how painfully he had become a man, and loped out of the front door.

"Good luck," called Rosalee, before rushing with her brother to pack.


End file.
